It’s more like 50 degrees around here, but it’s the same concept. Weather gets cold, lose a bunch of riders. Weather gets rainy, lose a bunch more riders. Everyone gets new bike stuff for Christmas, gain a bunch of riders for a week after New Year’s. Lose ‘em again until late Spring.
I can tell it’s spring because I have trouble finding a spot for my bike in the bike cage this morning. The ludicrous thing is they missed out on all the ideal riding days in our sunny, dry and warm winter, and start riding in spring when more often than not there’s a hard, dry easterly wind blowing over us from the desert all day.
Here in Sweden october means high skies, leaves that are red yellow and brown and a few degrees above freezing.
The bike lanes are getting more easy to manouver every day – and there is still at least one and a half month of breat riding before the snow and ice makes bike riding difficult.
I just love this time of the year – but people are alreadey asking me how long I will keep on riding…
Oh your in for a treat if you do, I’ve been doing it for the last two years. It’s a little tricky at first but once you learn how to deal with it your doing good. I watched a couple videos on how cars deal with ice and some moves they did and applied it to what I do. Worked for me.
It’s fun and strangely satisfying. Last two Winters I was the only person at work who was persistently on-time even on the worst days. I ride on 2.0 knobby tires with steel studs and it’s fine. Oh, and lots of powerful lights I have Continental Spike Claw tires, but there are others, likely better, such as Nokian and Schwalbe winter tires.
I’ve commuted through the winter and ice and snow for the past 4 years. I live on top of a steep hill, which is challenging… After the first two winters where I fell off a few times on ice (snow is lovely to ride on, as long as it isn’t deep and wet) I bought Schwalbe Snow Studs for the MTB, and leave them on for the danger months, and they are great! Still skittish on steeper black ice, but makes it possible to stay upright
@Fogel – In Sweden I guess you keep on riding until the wheels are covered in snow?
In Bavaria one Winter (1993?) I enjoyed riding when the drivers had to defrost windscreens and scrape a route through the snow before they could go to work. My friend from Sweden had no problem as the automatic heater had defrosted his car, warmed the interior and the engine. He had problems hiding a smug smile as the Audi/BMW etc drivers took half an hour to get their cars roadworthy. To WALK to Zeiss took about 20 minutes!
Yes – when the wheels can’t spin beecause of the snow clogging them I usually leave the bike at home until the roads get ploughed.
I also leave the bike if its 10-15 degrees below freezing as I find that combination of temperature and wind a bit challenging.
But generally – in Stockholm the roads are mostly well kept in winter. Often the snow is no deeper than a couple of centimeters and the ice is visible so riding is possible. You just go slower.
@perthcyclist – riding a trail in the woods in winter with wide studded tires are just like riding single track during every other season. Exept that you get stuck right away if you drift of the beaten path.
Its the same here in minnesota, but this year the wind has been pretty high, so i have had to use my recumbent a lot, (because its more aerodynamic than my Miyata seventen). every one thinks i’m crazy, and i love it, you know your a die hard bicyclist when you bike in the winter.
People will observe a bad law so long as it is enforced and the alternative is harassment, inconvenience, and financial penalties. But when a law — good *OR* bad — can be disregarded with little or no chance of one being held accountable for it, history shows that it will be ignored. Consider the American experiment known as “Prohibition” or current laws against use of marijuana, petty thefts, prostitution, exceeding the speed limit, coming to a complete stop at a stop sign, or the “right turn on red” law — laws that are so universally flouted that it becomes a rarity when we see someone who *IS* driving at or below the speed limit or *NOT* performing a ‘California Stop’.
As for the fair-weather cyclists, they will always be with us, just the people who drag their old 10-speed out of the garage and swear they’re going to park the car and use the bike if gas gets any higher.
Some would argue that breaking the “minor” laws like the ones you mention are a gateway to breaking bigger laws – the basis of a “zero tolerance” policy on lawbreakers.
There’s an interesting correlation between people who have criminal records and people who park in disabled parking spaces at supermarkets when they don’t have a blue badge (in the UK). An attitude that the rules don’t apply to them, or that they’re pointless or unenforceable, is the start of greater criminality, according to some.
I love the fair weather cyclists. I just wait until the park the bike permanently, buy it cheaply, refurbish it and then sell it. Business has been good this year.
I’m with you on this one, Zman! The riding is just starting to get good with afternoon temps under 70 on a regular basis. I love being able to ride hard in the morning and not even sweat… like this morning when it was 45 out. Gorgeous!!!
that happens any day of the year.
I’d even argue that it gets worse as weather gets bad.
fun fact : in Groningen (NL) they’re installing sensors that allow bicycle lights to turn green whenever it is raining …
It’s pointless though, because only the die hards stop for red lights in bad weather.
Just add my thoughts, people like to feel safe if a helmet helps fine. Just make them worth wearing the safety standards are so low that the peace of mind is unjustified (particularly in Europe). Campaigning for better helmet standards rather than helmet enforcement could be justified. Just because they make them doesn’t make them worth wearing.
@Sparky: I don’t think it’s possible to make a helmet that will pass a 20 mph impact test, to pick a number, unless it’s too heavy and hot to be practical. Of course if they made them, the nannies would tell us to just ride real slow.
I had another fellow club member hit by a car last evening. Yes he was wearing a helmet. This is the probably the 10th rider I have personally known that has been in an accident with a car. I am not for mandatory laws but do believe in them. Can we move on to another subject. We aren’t going to change anything. I still hope to ride another 850 miles this year to get to 5,000.
Not much admiration here for a guy who says “Here’s my views” then “Now can we change the subject.”
But discussing dumb laws can change things. It discourages other places from passing them. There were lots of new helmet laws in the 1990s. Hardly any new ones now. Smart people have figured out that they don’t work.
I rode my bicycle past your window last night
I rollerskated to your door at daylight
It almost seems like you’re avoiding me
I’m OK alone but you’ve got something I need, well
I’ve got a brand new pair of rollerskates
You’ve got a brand new key
I think that we should get together and
Try them on to see
winter riding is so much fun, and this year i’m riding a recumbent through the snow and ice, it should be fun! plus i’m up to 2,744 miles so far this year, hoping to reach 3,000 by the end of October.
truly miserable weather barely exists in my part of the world, I can think of maybe 3 or 4 rides that made me feel miserable in the last 3 years and at least 1 of them was because of poorly chosen gear (I was wearing sandals, it was freezing and wet, got chillblaines on my feet!)
This has been almost an entire year of no riding for me due to personal issues. But I am probably going to start back in a week or two. I live in Montana and it just started getting nice and cold in the mornings (27-40 degrees F) and I adore that temp. I also ride throughout the winter: freezing rain is scary because cars suck; wet snow is hard to stay upright; I have rim brakes which freeze up all the time and it takes forever to come to a stop; and at -18 F your eyelids start to freeze shut when you blink (at about -30 F you lose just about all of the air pressure in your tires which makes for a hard slog to work or home btw).
I dont know why I love it so much, but it is absolutely glorious. The only time I get frustrated is when the snow is more than about 8 inches deep since it really starts to slow me down at that depth.
Winter riding. ~sigh~ I do it out of a sense of duty. I hate it usually. It’s not the cycling so much as the getting dressed and undressed. I sometimes wear makeup and it takes less time to paint up like a vegas showgirl than it takes to change from houseclothes to -30C cycling threads. This year I have a Canada Goose coat and I’m hoping it speeds things up enough to get me outside more, whether on a bike or not. It’s my first good adult winter coat (waited half my life for it!) After I do get smothered in layers and hit the streets, what do I find? Narrow twin track ruts in polished compressed snow with salted sand laying on it at the intersections! Yes folks, you have to take the lane in our fair city in winter because plowing all those streets is just too expensive. At least that’s how they explain it.
Don’t be so hard on the folks who just won’t deal with all that and take the quick solution in inclement weather. They don’t know better, don’t know to care, and just need more examples. (it’s all the winter cyclists around here who got my hubby to accept the concept)
Maybe a stupid question, but I can’t help asking it: how to register/sign up for an account here? I find only the login prompt and the link for a lost password…
I can handle any temperature, but once there is ice on the ground, I’m not riding. People tell me they are in control, but the thing is the cars are not. They smack into each other all the time in the winter. Then there’s the issue of snow, of which we get a lot. When cars are getting stuck everywhere, I’m not going to get much progress on a bike.
Nice to see a Bianchi in the work stand, at least the color looks like celeste on my monitor. Ride all year round in South West Poland, near Wrocław. Usually the winters are milder here than the rest of Poland, although a few years back we had loads of snow from November to March. Have studded tires on an old diamond back frame retro fitted with an internal 7 speed hub.
Hmm… Did I meet you in summer 2010 near Białowieza on the campingsite of Grudka¹? I was there with my bicycle, too.
Just curious, would be a great incident
Hi there, The last time I passed through Białowieza was in 1992, on a three week trip with a three year old in a trailer. If you are ever in western Poland, look me up!
It’s more like 50 degrees around here, but it’s the same concept. Weather gets cold, lose a bunch of riders. Weather gets rainy, lose a bunch more riders. Everyone gets new bike stuff for Christmas, gain a bunch of riders for a week after New Year’s. Lose ‘em again until late Spring.
I have a name for the ones that are lost during those periods you described… Wusses
I’ve got two names for those people: Average Riders and The Majority.
I agree. Plus every trip by bike is one less car on the road for the duration.
I actually enjoy my commute more during the cold months, despite of the weather, because all the fixters, posers and other crazies are gone.
No such thing as bad weather, just bad clothing.
I can tell it’s spring because I have trouble finding a spot for my bike in the bike cage this morning. The ludicrous thing is they missed out on all the ideal riding days in our sunny, dry and warm winter, and start riding in spring when more often than not there’s a hard, dry easterly wind blowing over us from the desert all day.
Here in Sweden october means high skies, leaves that are red yellow and brown and a few degrees above freezing.
The bike lanes are getting more easy to manouver every day – and there is still at least one and a half month of breat riding before the snow and ice makes bike riding difficult.
I just love this time of the year – but people are alreadey asking me how long I will keep on riding…
I have never ridden in ice and snow, but it’s on my bucket list!
Oh your in for a treat if you do, I’ve been doing it for the last two years. It’s a little tricky at first but once you learn how to deal with it your doing good. I watched a couple videos on how cars deal with ice and some moves they did and applied it to what I do. Worked for me.
It’s fun and strangely satisfying. Last two Winters I was the only person at work who was persistently on-time even on the worst days. I ride on 2.0 knobby tires with steel studs and it’s fine. Oh, and lots of powerful lights
I have Continental Spike Claw tires, but there are others, likely better, such as Nokian and Schwalbe winter tires.
I’ve commuted through the winter and ice and snow for the past 4 years. I live on top of a steep hill, which is challenging… After the first two winters where I fell off a few times on ice (snow is lovely to ride on, as long as it isn’t deep and wet) I bought Schwalbe Snow Studs for the MTB, and leave them on for the danger months, and they are great! Still skittish on steeper black ice, but makes it possible to stay upright
@Fogel – In Sweden I guess you keep on riding until the wheels are covered in snow?
In Bavaria one Winter (1993?) I enjoyed riding when the drivers had to defrost windscreens and scrape a route through the snow before they could go to work. My friend from Sweden had no problem as the automatic heater had defrosted his car, warmed the interior and the engine. He had problems hiding a smug smile as the Audi/BMW etc drivers took half an hour to get their cars roadworthy. To WALK to Zeiss took about 20 minutes!
Yes – when the wheels can’t spin beecause of the snow clogging them I usually leave the bike at home until the roads get ploughed.
I also leave the bike if its 10-15 degrees below freezing as I find that combination of temperature and wind a bit challenging.
But generally – in Stockholm the roads are mostly well kept in winter. Often the snow is no deeper than a couple of centimeters and the ice is visible so riding is possible. You just go slower.
@perthcyclist – riding a trail in the woods in winter with wide studded tires are just like riding single track during every other season. Exept that you get stuck right away if you drift of the beaten path.
Its the same here in minnesota, but this year the wind has been pretty high, so i have had to use my recumbent a lot, (because its more aerodynamic than my Miyata seventen). every one thinks i’m crazy, and i love it, you know your a die hard bicyclist when you bike in the winter.
Tell them: when you retire.
People will observe a bad law so long as it is enforced and the alternative is harassment, inconvenience, and financial penalties. But when a law — good *OR* bad — can be disregarded with little or no chance of one being held accountable for it, history shows that it will be ignored. Consider the American experiment known as “Prohibition” or current laws against use of marijuana, petty thefts, prostitution, exceeding the speed limit, coming to a complete stop at a stop sign, or the “right turn on red” law — laws that are so universally flouted that it becomes a rarity when we see someone who *IS* driving at or below the speed limit or *NOT* performing a ‘California Stop’.
As for the fair-weather cyclists, they will always be with us, just the people who drag their old 10-speed out of the garage and swear they’re going to park the car and use the bike if gas gets any higher.
Talk is cheap.
Some would argue that breaking the “minor” laws like the ones you mention are a gateway to breaking bigger laws – the basis of a “zero tolerance” policy on lawbreakers.
There’s an interesting correlation between people who have criminal records and people who park in disabled parking spaces at supermarkets when they don’t have a blue badge (in the UK). An attitude that the rules don’t apply to them, or that they’re pointless or unenforceable, is the start of greater criminality, according to some.
That is precisely the reason why Laws shouldn’t be pointless and unenforceable.
Thank you Don!!
@ Don. Like (1)
I love the fair weather cyclists. I just wait until the park the bike permanently, buy it cheaply, refurbish it and then sell it. Business has been good this year.
Hurried and poor is irrelevant. It’s a bad law.
Nothing wrong with Summer-cyclists, either.
Except that they actually miss out on the best riding conditions here which happen in winter, but that’s their loss!
I ride year around but find it more enjoyable when the temperatures are in the 40′s (F) rather than in the 100′s (F).
You can always put on additional layers when it’s chilly but when it’s hot, you just suffer.
My sweet spot is upper 70′s and low humidity. Rare outside of CA :*( But I prefer hot weather so I’d take 100F over 40F any time.
I’m with you on this one, Zman! The riding is just starting to get good with afternoon temps under 70 on a regular basis. I love being able to ride hard in the morning and not even sweat… like this morning when it was 45 out. Gorgeous!!!
EXACTLY!!! I love biking in the winter!
It’s the Summer cyclists that are the most annoying: blow red lights, ride the wrong way, ride erratic, make sudden turns without looking, etc.
that happens any day of the year.
I’d even argue that it gets worse as weather gets bad.
fun fact : in Groningen (NL) they’re installing sensors that allow bicycle lights to turn green whenever it is raining …
It’s pointless though, because only the die hards stop for red lights in bad weather.
Just add my thoughts, people like to feel safe if a helmet helps fine. Just make them worth wearing the safety standards are so low that the peace of mind is unjustified (particularly in Europe). Campaigning for better helmet standards rather than helmet enforcement could be justified. Just because they make them doesn’t make them worth wearing.
@Sparky: I don’t think it’s possible to make a helmet that will pass a 20 mph impact test, to pick a number, unless it’s too heavy and hot to be practical. Of course if they made them, the nannies would tell us to just ride real slow.
I had another fellow club member hit by a car last evening. Yes he was wearing a helmet. This is the probably the 10th rider I have personally known that has been in an accident with a car. I am not for mandatory laws but do believe in them. Can we move on to another subject. We aren’t going to change anything. I still hope to ride another 850 miles this year to get to 5,000.
Not much admiration here for a guy who says “Here’s my views” then “Now can we change the subject.”
But discussing dumb laws can change things. It discourages other places from passing them. There were lots of new helmet laws in the 1990s. Hardly any new ones now. Smart people have figured out that they don’t work.
I rode my bicycle past your window last night
I rollerskated to your door at daylight
It almost seems like you’re avoiding me
I’m OK alone but you’ve got something I need, well
I’ve got a brand new pair of rollerskates
You’ve got a brand new key
I think that we should get together and
Try them on to see
(by Melanie Safka)
Ah … Melanie. Probably the last concert I ever went to see.
Pops: Thanks for getting one of the stupidest songs ever stuck in my head.
winter riding is so much fun, and this year i’m riding a recumbent through the snow and ice, it should be fun! plus i’m up to 2,744 miles so far this year, hoping to reach 3,000 by the end of October.
I do not understand the riders who slog through miserable weather. Admire? Yes. Understander? Not by half.
truly miserable weather barely exists in my part of the world, I can think of maybe 3 or 4 rides that made me feel miserable in the last 3 years and at least 1 of them was because of poorly chosen gear (I was wearing sandals, it was freezing and wet, got chillblaines on my feet!)
This has been almost an entire year of no riding for me due to personal issues. But I am probably going to start back in a week or two. I live in Montana and it just started getting nice and cold in the mornings (27-40 degrees F) and I adore that temp. I also ride throughout the winter: freezing rain is scary because cars suck; wet snow is hard to stay upright; I have rim brakes which freeze up all the time and it takes forever to come to a stop; and at -18 F your eyelids start to freeze shut when you blink (at about -30 F you lose just about all of the air pressure in your tires which makes for a hard slog to work or home btw).
I dont know why I love it so much, but it is absolutely glorious. The only time I get frustrated is when the snow is more than about 8 inches deep since it really starts to slow me down at that depth.
Mandating helmet use to adults = BAD.
Using helmets every time you ride = good common sense.
On an unrelated (but still Yehudamoon-related) topic, look what I stumbled across today:
http://www.khou.com/news/texas-news/Bogus-bike-lanes-appearing-on-Dallas-streets-173632221.html
So great!
I like the councilman character. He is so pragmatic.
Winter riding. ~sigh~ I do it out of a sense of duty. I hate it usually. It’s not the cycling so much as the getting dressed and undressed. I sometimes wear makeup and it takes less time to paint up like a vegas showgirl than it takes to change from houseclothes to -30C cycling threads. This year I have a Canada Goose coat and I’m hoping it speeds things up enough to get me outside more, whether on a bike or not. It’s my first good adult winter coat (waited half my life for it!) After I do get smothered in layers and hit the streets, what do I find? Narrow twin track ruts in polished compressed snow with salted sand laying on it at the intersections! Yes folks, you have to take the lane in our fair city in winter because plowing all those streets is just too expensive. At least that’s how they explain it.
Don’t be so hard on the folks who just won’t deal with all that and take the quick solution in inclement weather. They don’t know better, don’t know to care, and just need more examples. (it’s all the winter cyclists around here who got my hubby to accept the concept)
Maybe a stupid question, but I can’t help asking it: how to register/sign up for an account here? I find only the login prompt and the link for a lost password…
I can handle any temperature, but once there is ice on the ground, I’m not riding. People tell me they are in control, but the thing is the cars are not. They smack into each other all the time in the winter. Then there’s the issue of snow, of which we get a lot. When cars are getting stuck everywhere, I’m not going to get much progress on a bike.
Why does Turner *always* have a cup of coffee in his hands?
Nice to see a Bianchi in the work stand, at least the color looks like celeste on my monitor. Ride all year round in South West Poland, near Wrocław. Usually the winters are milder here than the rest of Poland, although a few years back we had loads of snow from November to March. Have studded tires on an old diamond back frame retro fitted with an internal 7 speed hub.
Hmm… Did I meet you in summer 2010 near Białowieza on the campingsite of Grudka¹? I was there with my bicycle, too.
Just curious, would be a great incident
¹ a lovely one:
http://malenki.ch/Touren/10/Galerie/18/slide_01.html
Hi there, The last time I passed through Białowieza was in 1992, on a three week trip with a three year old in a trailer. If you are ever in western Poland, look me up!
Great pictures, I recommend clicking the link.